


Wet Fur/Hair

by Coal



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fusion, Fuuinjutsu, Gen, why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 19:34:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5387693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coal/pseuds/Coal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different sort of Kurama and a different sort of seal is used. Also fusion fun.  -></p><p>He pulled his lips back in what could have been a grin and pushed his muzzle through the bars. “I will soon become no more, but you will become me and more. So I don’t mind speeding up the process.” </p><p>“Wait. What?” </p><p>“We will become one. You’ll have my memories and instincts, but they will be tempered with yours. You will have power and I will still be able to live in some way.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seals are wonky things

**Author's Note:**

> Kurama is out of character on purpose. And then... "they" are out of character. The fusion of Naruto and Kurama--because my Kurama here is not... the proper one. Yeah.

Kurama rubbed the side of his nuzzle absently against the cold bars. It was soothing—and wasn’t that fucking weird for him? In his previous… containers, he hadn’t been imposed in a giant cage. There hadn’t been a sewer either, but he blamed Konoha’s citizens for that as opposed to the kit’s parents. Point was, before he’d always been shunted in tight, white, sort-of metaphorical cages. It was less literal when it was seal work done by a proper Uzumaki. It wasn’t in how the seals were structured or placed, it just had to do with the blood donator’s views were when it came to demons and caging them—and how their thoughts moved and all that rot. The Uzumaki, and really just people from long ago, they had a certain understanding they passed down about the world. They had certain thought processes and innate habits when it came to how they perceived the world and taught each other sealing. How they pictured the seal in their heads was important to how it affected Kurama. An Uzumaki would have said “Oh, it’s all spiritual and unimaginable for us in this life.” 

The demon fox thought the word Bullshit covered it all more succinctly. 

Then along came Namikaze and he brought a more literal interpretation to his seal work. It was crass. Imaginative, yes, and his work certainly would have flabbergasted the old Uzumaki seal masters of old, but then they would have gotten over their surprise and then deemed Namikaze’s work to be subpar. 

See, it was all because the yellow prick had viewed Kurama not as a mythical entity but as a living creature that he was there, in the soothing dark and able to think things over in peace. Being trapped in a white, tight, space all rolled up and constantly pressured—it was cruel but something that was done on purpose. It kept the demon’s focus from moving too much, kept them more like the mindless gods of chaos that the old men purported the Biju to be. 

Relaxing in a smaller, wet form against cold metal and watching as Naruto trained—none of that was what the old school seal masters would view as a success. Kurama could reflect on things, here. He could shift his form out of the cartoon mammoth form he often took and could relax looking like an average, if blood-soaked, fox. It was more natural for Kurama. 

However, it was also a more vulnerable form. But Kurama had been so comfortable in his dark cage that shifting to his smaller form seemed right. And when he watched the old pervert toss Naruto over a cliff, he still didn’t change his form back to the monstrous version. 

He also didn’t stop Naruto from coming into the “foyer” of his mindscape where Kurama waited. 

“Whuh,” Naruto blinked owlishly, twisting about erratically as he took in the dark sewers and the huge bars. 

Kurama waited a minute, letting Naruto acclimate a bit more and finally catch sight of the fox on the ground. “S’up, kit?” 

Naruto threw an incredulous glare at the fox before, childishly, pointing to Kurama. “You’re the fox bastard!” 

“Mm. Yeah. So, you wanted some chakra?” 

“I—yeah.” Naruto’s frown took on more apprehension as withdrew his arm and began to hunch over slightly. Disdain and theatrics were things the boy was used to, but genuine surprises and congeniality were just… awkward. “You gonna give it up?” 

“Sure, kit. You just have to watch out when you take too much, like on the bridge in Wave. It amplifies whatever state you are in.” When Naruto just blinked, the fox began to wave a few of his wet tails around. The blood matted fur caused the appendages to scrap against one another at times. “If you’re in an angry state, a fight-or-die state, you’ll just be angrier, more brutal, if you let it affect you too much. You have to adapt yourself more to how my youkai feels in you and ease into being able to handle more and more.” 

Naruto stared flatly at the fox. “Why are you being so helpful?” 

“Stolckholm Syndrome.”

“What?” 

“Ah, that was before the last apocalypse, wasn’t it… well, basically I’ve been watching you your whole life and so I’ve become a fan of yours. I want you to succeed, kit.” 

Naruto stared and then shrugged. He was always a very go-with-the-flow sort of kid. 

As soon as the next night, Kurama found Naruto standing in his mindscape again with a determined expression. After several beats of silence, the small fox tilted its head, ignoring the splash of a few drops of blood falling off him and into the sewer waters of Naruto’s mind. It was as symbolic as it was literal, but he knew Naruto wouldn’t pick up on that. “I can watch through your eyes, but I cannot read your mind.” 

“I want you to make me stronger.” 

“Is not the old man doing that?” 

“Not… not fast enough.” Kurama blinked and Naruto heaved a deep sigh. “I was thinking. The chakra you gave me makes me feel… alive. Summoning toads is great, but it’s not _my_ power. Neither is yours but it… um.” 

“It becomes yours,” Kurama helpfully supplied. “It’s how the seal is designed. Your father had the same sort of thinking, I suppose. My power is slowly becoming yours.” He pulled his lips back in what could have been a grin and pushed his muzzle through the bars. “I will soon become no more, but you will become me and more. So I don’t mind speeding up the process.” 

“Wait. What?” 

“We will become one. You’ll have my memories and instincts, but they will be tempered with yours. You will have power and I will still be able to live in some way.” 

“So… wait, you… we’d become one, all equally and stuff?” 

“Yeah, kit. We’d be a new entity entirely.” He waited a beat, explaining the next bit more hesitantly. “You can either gain me with the power now or wait and slowly obtain more power. The timing is completely in your hands.” 

Naruto stared, but Kurama was patient (and unsurprised) when the child eventually started wading through the sewer waters over to the fox. “You tricking me?” 

“I was serious about being your fan, kit.” When Naruto didn’t respond, Kurama dipped his head down. “Think on it and get back to me. If you decide you want to speed up the process, just come back and tell. Even if you’re mid-battle I will make sure it goes smoothly for us both.”

“I… yeah. Yeah, okay. I’ll get back to you.”


	2. Certainly not an end

The Valley of the End was already a poetic sort of place. Battling Sasuke there, trying to stop the bastard from defecting, that didn’t make the location more interesting. In fact, instead of adding to it, instead of lengthening its already impressive history, it made it seem… cheap. 

Sasuke was grey skinned now, mutated with foul constructs bubbling out from his back, extra hands webbed and large enough to pose as wigs from afar. Naruto and Kurama both thought it was a foul sight, and so when Sasuke lunched forward, Chidori already enacted, Naruto let himself fall into his mindscape. 

“Do you just want some or do you want all?” 

Naruto frowned. “Will we become like how Sasuke is now?” 

“No.” Kurama then thought about it. “Well. You might be slightly more hairy.” 

Naruto’s brows shot up, but Kurama could tell the boy was thankful for the tension killer. “Hairy? I don’t want to become all hairy!”

“You’d make a poor Sasquatch, I agree. But not so drastically hairy. I think. You’re blond—it really won’t be so bad as you’re thinking.” 

“I don’t even know what a sas-whatever is!” 

Kurama rolled his shoulders back. “Just picture a human made of hair. I promise we won’t be that.” 

Naruto frowned. “Well. Are you _sure_ you aren’t tricking me?” 

Kurama blinked and then Naruto looked sheepish. “We’ll be something new.” 

Naruto dug his hands into his hair and crouched down. “I still don’t know if I should!” 

“I can promise we’ll be able to stop Sasuke.” 

Naruto stilled, still crouched down with and staring at the sewer water. Kurama wondered if he could tell the water was mostly blood by now. “Without killing him?” 

“Yes.” 

“You promise?” 

“Yes.” 

“Really?” 

“I can’t do anything about your lack of belief in me. Not in this cage, that is.” 

“Ugh. This sucks.” Naruto finally straightened. He only looked tired when he met Kurama’s gaze again. “You know what? Fuck it. Let’s just get it over with now. I mean, you said it’s inevitable, right?” 

“Without anymore sharing of chakra I can project our inevitable fusion as happening in your early twenties.” 

Naruto stared. “What? I… sort of got that.” 

“I think being one entity will be… less stressful for me.” 

“Okay?” 

“I’m complimenting you, kit.” Kurama wished he could smile, especially as he felt a drop of blood slide from his fur onto one of his whiskers. He looked forward to… not being wet. “Last chance, now.” 

“Hm.” Naruto tilted his head back and his face scrunched up in thought. After another few minutes, he finally nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”


	3. Anticlimactic

He was still wet. 

At the very least he, they—yes, they—thought, the wet was from the water and not blood. Not even Sasuke’s blood was on them. Being one thing, and human shaped, made things interesting. Sasuke had still been in mid launch, and they had decided to not leap forward and meet the boy. Instead, they crouched low and darted to the side, gliding over the water in a way that forced a delighted laugh out of them. They weren’t sure who was to blame for the joy. Naruto’s body hadn’t ostensibly changed. Their gaze felt sharper, different, and they could feel wind cutting through their hair more than normal, so they could gather that their hair was longer, but not excessively. The limbs and such were the same. The claws, a given. But it all still felt… novel. They felt very different. 

And they were so much faster than Sasuke. 

They stopped behind Sasuke and enjoyed the sensation of their hair whipping back, lagging behind the rest of their body. Sasuke probably didn’t notice they were already behind him and they thought, _good_ and then jabbed their fist into the side of Sasuke’s head. 

What happens when a person is hit at the side of the head is that the brain bounces off the inner part of the skull—and a blackout is imminent. 

They watched Sasuke crash down into the water, both the Chidori and the grey, foul mutation dying off. 

It was both anticlimactic and delightful for them. It also felt better for the history of the Valley of the End. Being subjected to only a few lines on the monstrous, black lipped iteration of another mad Uchiha—really, their quick knockout of the kid was for the good of everyone. Besides, there were too many people covering the globe who could explain their entire, fucked up, back story with “came into contact with Orochimaru”. It was dull. 

Naruto and Kurama, being now something so new, were fascinating. They knew it very well, even if they still hadn’t come up with a new name befitting of their new self. 

And then they remembered that Sasuke was, in fact, knocked out, and that there was only water beneath them. 

Chuckling, they let themselves drop down into the water and took their time dragging Sasuke back up to the surface. 

When they tossed the boy onto the back, he instinctively rolled and coughed up water. His eyes remained closed and he remained unconscious after that, though. 

“Never doubt the survival instinct of a shinobi… eh?” They laughed again, at their own words now, and then tilted their head back. The sun was warm on their skin and they wondered if they could take more time to enjoy themselves, to learn themselves, before they had to drag Sasuke back to Konoha.


	4. Petting is nice

They were petting the hair on their arms when Kakashi arrived. 

They hadn’t gotten unnaturally hairy, but they were considering picking up some razors and tweezers—scissors even, when they got back to Konoha. The arm and leg hair wasn’t bad, in fact it was very soft if they stroked it right and they enjoyed petting, but having stubble on their thirteen year old face was awkward. Lots of hair was nice, but they would rather be hairy later when their skin didn’t feel so… soft in so many places. Their hair was not at all soft of thin like new hair—it was all coarse and only smooth when pet along certain directions. Having such hair on their face was probably not going to be fun in the long term. 

“Naruto,” it wasn’t a question, but there was a toneless quality that Kakashi used that made them think that the man was intent to not sound wary. 

They weren’t sure that Naruto was fitting for their new self. It wasn’t that they disliked it, they loved that name. They loved their name Naruto and their name Kurama, but equally. To pick one over the other felt wrong. They wanted to, no, they _needed_ to maintain the balance that made them up. (Their eyes narrowed as they considered that, perhaps, Namikaze was smarter than Kurama had thought and that there parts to the seal he hadn’t figured out from inside the cage.)

“Naruto,” this time Kakashi sounded more sure, more casual and so they looked up from their hairy arms to the adult. “You stopped Sasuke.” 

“We did, yes.” 

Kakashi stared at them for a moment and they realized that the man still had his sharingan bared and open. _Recording._ “How much of you is the Kyuubi right now, Naruto?” 

“We’re half and half,” They pointed to their own face, as if that was an explanation, and then their face and eyes scrunched up in a foxy smile. “As the seal would have eventually intended. Neat, huh?” 

After a long moment, Kakashi closed his sharingan eye and looked down at Sasuke who was still laid out slightly behind him. “We’ll be going straight to the Hokage, then.”

It took them a second to think of Tsunade. At first they had overlapping images of the Third, of the annoying old man who used them as a weapon and of the kindly grandfather figure who first asked them what they wanted to do with their future. When they realized that Kakashi was watching them, they made sure their smile hadn’t lost its zeal and stood up. “We’ll follow ya, sensei.” 

“Hm.” Kakashi threw Sasuke over his shoulder, moving to dash forward when he suddenly pivoted to fully face them. “Do you know if that’s permanent?” 

“Irrevocably—barring death.” They scratched at their whiskered cheeks, the markings how thick and crossing down over their jaw and ending at their neck. (They resolved to purchase razors when they felt how horribly itchy the stubble that grew on their markings was.) “But, like, it’s not so bad. There’s a balance. It’s pretty nice.” 

“I see.” 

They shrugged, not wanting to argue with the man.


End file.
